


A Winter's Day

by flippyspoon



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Fluff, Friendship, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-10
Updated: 2020-07-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25192429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flippyspoon/pseuds/flippyspoon
Summary: Billy needs a roommate. Robin has a great idea...
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Robin Buckley & Billy Hargrove
Comments: 46
Kudos: 290
Collections: harringrove for BLM





	A Winter's Day

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks, beuysdontcry!

Robin’s parents had promised to match her savings on a decent used car. So, on a Sunday in December, her father heaved a sigh and ponied up seven hundred bucks, licking his thumb as he counted out the cash.

The used car lot was covered in a blanket of snow.

Robin’s father was balding and portly, but tall like her. He stuck one hand in his pocket, running the other through his thinning sandy blonde hair as Robin bounced over to the white ‘75 Volkswagen Beetle she’d eyed for the last month.

“I want to see the engine,” her father grumbled.

Robin wore a baby blue parka and she shoved her mittened hands in her pockets, bouncing on her toes, watching her father ask Bart of Bart’s Used Cars questions about the car and give it a thorough examination.

She had asked questions of Bart already. Or rather, she tried to. But Bart called her “girly” and smirked and talked down to her. She came back again with Steve and they’d played Cyrano back and forth as he glanced at her helplessly before asking Bart about the state of the transmission so she could get a straight answer.

Bart had a red face and beady eyes. Steve had said he always tried to rip people off and she had to haggle and not show weakness (apparently Tommy H. had dealt with him before).

“Couldn’t let it go for less than eighteen,” Bart said. He chewed on a toothpick.

“A grand!” Robin chirped.

She was hoping for some cash left over.

Bart blurted a laugh. “Dream on, girly girl. Seventeen. Final offer.”

_ Ya gotta talk him way, way down _ , Steve had said.

Robin loved the white VW like it was her child already. Steve called it Herbie.

She’d named it Beatrice.

_ Doesn’t she look like a Beatrice, Steve _ ?  _ She’s like a little old lady! She’s adorable _ !

Robin’s dad opened his mouth and before he could speak, Robin said, “Twelve hundred. Chains included. Take it or leave it. I can always try ‘Napolis where they don’t take an arm and a leg.” She fixed him with the same steely eyed stare she fixed customers with when they returned videos without rewinding them.

Her father, mercifully, let her stare Bart down.

Bart opened and closed his mouth, fish-like.

Steve had suggested she might have better luck on a good deal in winter. According to Steve, people liked to buy cars in spring. She had no idea how he knew such a thing.

“ _ Fine _ .” Bart tossed his toothpick in the snow. “Show you how nice I am, I will throw in those chains and outfit em’ on top of it. Let’s get ya fixed up.”

Robin’s father tossed her a wink and she stood up a little straighter, inwardly gleeful.

The Beetle was  _ hers _ .

And on top of it, she had two hundred extra bucks to spend how she pleased.

An hour later, Robin was driving her Beetle around the snowy streets of Hawkins as Simon and Garfunkel played on the radio. Her tastes these days ran more toward the Siouxsie and the Banshees side of things. But Simon and Garfunkel was still an old favorite.

“A winter’s daaaay, in a deep and dark December…” 

She sang breathily, tapping the steering wheel. She had already stopped by Family Video where Steve was working, to show off her wheels. The Beetle was no Beamer, but it was even better. It was  _ hers _ . No more tooling around on her bike like the kiddies. 

Robin’s stomach rumbled and, on a whim, she parked in front of the diner on Hawkins’ main drag and decided to treat herself with some of that leftover cash. She grabbed her bag--a homemade purse made from an old pair of jeans--and expertly skipped along the icy sidewalk as if born to it.

“French toast and hot chocolate  _ and _ a coffee, please!” Robin was still breathless when she ordered, and Doris Donnelly, who had worked at Mulberry Diner for the last sixteen years, smiled reflexively. 

“Sure thing, sweetie,” Doris, sticking her pencil into the thick of her enormous grey-brown beehive. 

Robin smiled and dug her paperback copy of  _ The Unbearable Lightness of Being  _ out of her purse and slapped it down on the table, humming to herself as she dug out her Walkman. 

Behind her, she heard Doris speaking in uncharacteristically quiet tones to a customer. She had only seen one other patron at the diner upon entering; a mysterious figure in an ugly brown parka and a green snow hat, a beige scarf wrapped around their face as they hunched over their coffee.

“You sure you’re alright, sweetie?” Doris said. Robin could just barely make it out. “How about a piece of pie?”

“Uh...sure.” The voice was low and a little gruff. 

Robin tried to be casual as she craned her head around to see who it was behind her.

Billy Hargrove took off his hat, revealing a mess of choppy blonde curls. He sighed and took off his scarf, sniffing and rubbing his hands together.

_ Billy Hargrove! _

Robin had seen Billy around town, but it was like spotting Bigfoot. He was spoken of only in whispers. 

It had seemed so exciting when Max marched into Family Video and blurted out, “Billy’s alive!” 

Even Steve perked up at the news, perhaps because Max looked so happy about it. As far as Robin knew, Steve  _ hated _ Billy Hargrove. Although, she supposed it was hard to hold a grudge on a guy who had died the way he had. Or, almost died, as it turned out.

Beyond the two of them, the diner was entirely empty. 

Robin frowned down at her paperback and her Walkman. She had been looking forward to sitting by the window and reading while scarfing down French Toast, basking in the glory of her new car parked right outside in the snow.

But there was something about the quiet tone of Billy’s voice and the way Doris sounded talking to him.

_ Lonely _ , Robin thought. 

Maybe there was a reason that spotting Billy was like spotting Bigfoot.

She took a deep breath, gathered her things, and stood.

“Billy?” 

He jerked a little when he heard her voice, the hand holding his cup of coffee trembling for a moment. He frowned up at her, looking ridiculous in his big puffy jacket. He wasn’t exactly the metalhead sex god who had stormed Hawkins High anymore.

Billy said, “Oh uh…” He blinked at her. “What. I mean...yeah?”

Robin managed a smile. “I’m Robin. I’m a friend of…” She squinted. It would do no good to say she was a friend of Steve’s. “I know your sister? Max? And I was at…” She looked around and then whispered, “The  _ mall _ . You know-”

“Oh.” His expression darkened. “Right.”

“Can I…?” Robin made the vague yet universal gesture of requesting to join him and Billy sat up a little straighter.

“Oh… I guess.” He seemed less than excited, but he didn’t complain as she sat down across from him, resettling her things.

Robin had learned a lot in the last three months of being Steve Harrington’s best friend. One thing she’d learned was: It was important to have friends who knew about the monsters.

And even Bigfoot needed a friend.

“I haven’t seen you around much,” Robin said.

Billy looked like he was about to respond when Doris came with her coffees and hot chocolate and promised that the French Toast was coming soon. She nodded at him and grabbed the dish of creamers.

“I’ve been around,” Billy mumbled. He shrugged and sipped his coffee, his gaze dropping to her book. “What’s that?  _ The Unbearable Lightness of _ …?”

“Oh yeah.” Robin stirred two creamers into her coffee. “It’s about this surgeon guy in Czechoslovakia in the 60s?”

Billy blinked at her. “...Ah.”

“Yeah, that was pretty much Steve’s reaction,” she said, and chuckled.

“Steve,” Billy said flatly. “Harrington?”

“The one and only,” Robin said. She stirred an absurd amount of sugar into her coffee and took a sip, followed by some hot chocolate, shivering with pleasure. “Hey, do you want anything? It’s on me. I’m flush with cash.”

“Oh...well…”

“Really! Are you hungry?”

“I could eat,” Billy said.

“ _ Children of Paradise _ ?” Billy swallowed his bite of burger and narrowed his eyes at Robin. She’d noticed he was shy to start talking. But once she eased him in, rambling about working at Family Video, he opened up a little. “Never heard of it.”

“It’s a French film from the 40s,” Robin said loftily. She smirked at Billy’s disgusted reaction, and ate a bite of sausage smothered in maple syrup.

“Oh Jesus,” Billy muttered. “Yeah, not my scene, man.”

“Oh let me guess,” Robin said, rolling her eyes. “ _ Terminator _ .”

“Hey,  _ Terminator _ is a legitimately great movie!” Billy pointed a finger at her and just as quickly sat back, shrugging. “Yeah, I dunno.  _ Alien _ ?  _ Blade Runner _ ,  _ Repo Man _ -”

“Well, okay.” Robin shifted in her seat, vaguely annoyed that Billy had some taste. “Those are pretty good.”

“They’re  _ great _ ,” Billy said.

“I do really like  _ Blade Runner _ ,” Robin said. “Ya know, we put  _ Repo Man _ on in the store a lot to freak out the squares?”

“Ha!” Billy threw his head back and covered his mouth as he laughed. “Does that include ole Harrington?”

“Well, he’s friends with me,” Robin said. “And I’m extremely cool. Less square than he was in high school, I guess.”

“Such a prep,” Billy said, shaking his head. Robin thought he sounded oddly fond about it.

“So are you working these days?” Robin stabbed a thick bite of French toast and sopped up the last of her syrup before stuffing the whole satisfactory bite in her mouth. 

“Yeah.” Billy pursed his lips and his brow furrowed as he glared down at his half-eaten burger. “I’m at the library?”

“Really!” Robin’s mouth was still full as she chewed and she blushed, covering her mouth with her fist. 

Robin had never known Billy particularly  _ well _ , but she remembered him from high school. There were certain people you just knew you should avoid, at least if you were Robin. She’d spotted his charismatic rage right away and steered clear, hoping to evade him as a potential victim of his wrath. But he’d never bothered her or so much as looked at her. Which made sense, she supposed. The only girls he was interested in were girls like Vicky and Jennifer and Donna; girls with shiny lip gloss and big hair who would give him all the attention he wanted. Although they didn’t so much talk as play tonsil hockey in the hall.

Anyway, Billy Hargrove had never remotely seemed like a guy who would work at Hawkins Public Library.

“Yeah.” Billy took a big bite of burger, his gaze flitting around.

He was  _ so _ different from what she remembered; quieter, nicer, and with some vestigial energy from his old self seething gently under the surface. She wondered what he did with that part of himself working at the library.

“It’s just so...quiet,” Robin said, once she’d swallowed. “I remember you being very loud in school.”

Billy washed his burger down with root beer and mumbled, “Seems like a hundred years ago. Anyway. Kinda like the quiet now. Or I don’t mind it. When I was...you know…?”

“Yeah…”

“He was  _ loud _ ,” Billy said darkly. He stared out at the silent blanket of snow covering Mulberry Street. “Like I like loud music? But it was like if somebody was just screaming in your head every second and nobody else could hear it but you. So I don’t mind the quiet now. Plus, ya know, the old biddies who run the place keep it pretty warm. I like things really warm. Fucking winter…”

“Oh,” Robin said, nodding. “Because  _ it _ wanted it cold and stuff?”

She was well learned on the finer points of Upside Down mythology nowadays.

“Yeah… ‘Nother reason I hate living in that goddamn house. That and just...memories, I guess. The old man’s gone but I just…” He squirmed in his seat. “Not a lot of options. Saw some little cottage to rent a couple blocks outside Town, out by that burger joint? With a roommate, the rent would be cheap as hell but...” He glowered and wiped his greasy fingers with his napkin before throwing it down, his lip curling up. “Can’t see being anybody’s roommate. Everyone thinks I’m a freak. Also, you know...I hate everyone.”

Robin snorted a laugh at that. “You know, people won’t talk about it forever. I mean Hawkins just keeps getting weirder. Trust me. Something else will come along and they’ll forget all about that. But actually…” A smile spread slowly across Robin’s face. 

It was crazy, but it was also perfect. And the more she thought about it, the more perfect the idea became.

“It’s funny you mention that cottage,” Robin said. She sat back in the vinyl booth, crossing her arms. “I know which house for rent you mean. Because Steve wants to move in there too.”

“Steve?” Billy picked up a fry and chewed on it thoughtfully. “What the hell for? Doesn’t he live in a mansion or some shit?”

“His parents are moving.” She raised her eyebrows, hoping Billy might be amenable to this obvious solution. “Pittsburgh for his dad’s job. His parents gave him the option to go with them. But then he basically has to do whatever they say and as it turns out, my little dingus now has a taste for independence. He wants to stick around and put some money together. Take some time and figure out what he wants to do with himself. So he needs a cheap place. He needs a roommate.”

Billy blurted a laugh. He grinned from ear to ear and it was a much different kind of smile than the angry leers he used to throw around. He clapped his hands and threw his head back. “You’re crazy, Buckley!”

“Crazy, why!” Robin said. “It’s perfect! And you already know all the…” She looked around and whispered, “All the monster shit.”

“Well… I guess you don’t know all the history then,” Billy said wryly. “I beat the shit out of Steve once. Like hardcore. Knocked him right out. It was bad. We were rivals. I guess. More like he was my rival and he ignored me which seriously pissed me off. That shit was all on me and it was all stupid as hell. Point is, there is no way Harrington will want to move in with me, of all people.”

“Oooh, that’s ancient history,” Robin said, waving her hand. “So you beat each other up, so what? Isn’t that like a handshake for teenage boys? Besides you’re like…” She gestured vaguely in his direction. “Different,” Billy supplied. “Yeah...I guess.”

“I think it might actually work out,” Robin said. She reached across the table and nudged Billy’s hand and he looked at her in surprise. He acted a little bit like some cursed pariah, as if should anyone so much as touch him they would burst into flame, and a terrible sense of sadness took Robin over. She swallowed a lump in her throat and managed a smile instead. “Can’t hurt to try. Right?”

* * *

“This is yours?” Billy crossed his arms, his face half hidden beneath his scarf and the hood of his jacket.

He really  _ really _ fucking hated the winter. Dr. Owens had told him his intolerance to cold would fade with time. Though it wasn’t saying much. He’d  _ never _ liked intense Midwestern winters. It only made him miss the beach. He kicked the front right tire of the little VW that looked like it had emerged from the blanket of white. 

Robin said, “Yep!” She hopped down from the curb and climbed in, reaching over to unlock his door. “C’mon!” 

The Camaro was still totalled and Billy, though generally on a retreat from the entire universe, was not one to turn down a free ride in December. 

So he’d agreed to go to the video store with Robin and talk to Steve to at least propose what he still thought was an insane idea, before Robin drove him home from town.

Insane, yes. 

But after a few minutes of letting the concept rumble around in his head, he was starting to direly hope Steve Harrington would be amenable.

Living at the house on Cherry Lane should have been easy. His father was gone, following a few ugly months during which he’d hardly been functional as a person, even as his father was as hardass as ever. He’d never learned the truth. To Neil Hargrove’s knowledge, Billy had been involved with some vaguely deviant behavior down at the mall and then very  _ very _ nearly died when it was destroyed. That nearly dying part hadn’t mattered so much as the rest of it and how it  _ looked _ .

Susan had finally kicked Neil out one day after an ugly night during which he went after Billy with his fists and left him cowering in his bathroom, almost catonic as Max screamed at her step-father to stop. Billy was only grateful after Susan finally ended things and forced Neil out.

But the house was full of too many ugly memories. If it wasn’t Neil, it was the Mind Flayer lurking in the shadows or the echoes of the dead haunting him every moment.

By comparison, if Steve was as forgiving as Robin Buckley seemed to think he was, maybe the living arrangement would be...doable?

Talking Heads played on the radio and Robin bobbed her head along to it. Billy sat back and gazed out at the blur of white going by out the window and wondered what Steve Harrington was like to live with.

“Hey!” Steve Harrington stood behind the counter at the video store, a clipboard in hand, several stacks of videos on the counter in front of him. He blinked at Robin, clearly surprised to see her, and just as quickly his delight turned to wide-eyed confusion bordering on panic as his gaze slid to Billy. “Uh...um. Hey. Hargrove…”

Billy had not so much as spoken to Steve Harrington since some random Sunday in June when he’d run into Steve on the street and–seeing him in that ridiculous Scoops Ahoy uniform–was rendered mute and blushing before he managed a vague insult and went on his way.

Unless you counted the fourth of July...

He was pretty sure Steve Harrington rammed him with a yellow Cadillac. But then his memory of the whole thing was a bit fuzzy and mostly consisted of El and the beach, his mother…

“Hey. Harrington.” Billy looked down at his Converse more than he looked at Steve. His shoes were soaked through with snow and he shivered. Susan kept offering to buy him boots. He needed to take her up on that. “How’s it hangin’?”

“Huh. Um...” Steve shrugged and just like that, it wasn’t so bad. “Can’t complain?”

“Steve!” Robin said. She clapped her hands and bounced on her toes. She wore jeans and an oversized black sweater. She’d left her parka in the car. Her hair sprouted from a wispy ponytail on top of her head. Billy didn’t understand how she wasn’t freezing. She pointed at her best friend and winked knowingly. “I found you a roommate!”

Steve looked at Billy, then looked at Robin, then looked at Billy again.

Then he looked at Robin.

“Say what?”

* * *

“I’m not committing to anything,” Steve said darkly. 

Steve had apparently agreed to check out the cottage with Billy. So on a Tuesday afternoon when none of them had to work, Robin (dutifully massaging Steve on the idea for the last few days) went along with them to check the place out and act as a buffer.

“There’s a basketball hoop attached to the garage!” Robin said, as Steve drove them down Mulberry to the house behind Astro Burger (formerly Benny’s Burgers).

“I know,” Billy said. He smirked as he rolled his eyes. “You’ve mentioned it like ten times.”

Steve was driving them in his Beamer, which only made Billy feel increasingly like this was never going to happen. Rich Steve. King Steve.  _ Nice _ Steve. ...Hot, beautiful Steve. 

What would he want to live with the Mind Flayer’s damaged goods for?

Steve was quiet. Billy rode in the backseat and saw him chewing his lip in the rearview mirror, his brow furrowed as the BMW crawled down Hawkins’ icy streets and finally turned down a woodsy side street where Astro Burger and Gus’s Garage came into view. The cottage sat a half block down behind the burger joint. There was a convenient store and a gas station on the corner.

“Mentioned it to me about twenty times,” Steve said under his breath as he pulled into the driveway. He caught Billy’s eye in the rearview and raised one dark brow. 

Billy took it as a small gesture of solidarity.

“I’m just saying.” Robin rolled her eyes as they all climbed out of the car. The cottage sat diagonal from a much larger house that also functioned as a duplex. The properties were all owned by the same guy who’d bought the burger joint; a guy with money from the city, taking advantage of some lowered property values. Property in Hawkins had never been worth very much, but since the catastrophe of Starcourt Mall, it was worth even less. Values could only go up, was the theory. And since the mall’s demise, the mom and pop shops in town were doing better.

Billy had seen the advertisement for the cottage’s rental in the paper, and remembered driving past it a few times before. 

But it was much different up close.

In fact, the place was...quaint.

“Wow!” Robin skipped through the snow and Billy frowned at her ease at walking on ice. He still slipped from time to time. “It’s like a postcard!”

The cottage was exactly that; a cottage. It had yellow wooden siding, a scalloped white roof, and a neat front porch with a curlicue white iron railing and a porch swing. A pine tree stood on the front lawn.

Everything was blanketed in snow as usual.

“Geez,” Steve said. “It’s like a fairy tale.”

The promised garage was not, strictly speaking, a part of the cottage, according to the ad. The owner used it for storage and kept it locked. But there was a hoop attached to the exterior and tenants were allowed to use that whenever they liked.

“Hi!” A smiling middle-aged woman with a grey bun on her head appeared on the porch. She waved them over. “I’m Mrs. Daly! I manage Mr. Hedge’s rentals. Come on in! Gosh, you folks are young…”

Robin ended up asking all the questions. Billy and Steve only followed her as she chatted with Mrs. Daly, who took them on a short tour of the place: Two small bedrooms. Full bath. Laundry room on the service porch. Linen closet. Kitchen with a new fridge (no dishwasher). Storm cellar.

“Good um...counter space,” Steve said, as they all loitered in the hallway and he peeked into the blue tiled bathroom. “I like counter space in a bathroom.”

It was the first thing he’d said since they entered the house. Billy had not spoken at all.

“Pfft yeah, ya need it,” Robin said. “You have more beautifying products than I do.”

Billy snorted a laugh at that and saw Steve blush. Mrs. Daly giggled. “My son is just the same,” she said, rolling her eyes. “Boys these days all need five different things just for their hair!”

Steve vaguely motioned to his own hair, carefully coiffed as usual. “This doesn’t happen without some work, all right?” He nodded at Billy. “And don’t pretend you’re not the same way.”

Billy glanced up in surprise. He was not as careful as he’d used to be about his appearance. But that particular day he’d taken more care than he had since getting back from the hospital, knowing he would be hanging out with Harrington and wanting to make a decent impression. His hair was shorter now, but he’d teased it out and fluffed it up. He wore a couple extra layers to make up for the lack of a hat.

He shrugged at Steve and murmured an assent and Mrs. Daly laughed as if he’d said something funny. “Anyhow, the plumbing’s just been updated…”

Utilities were not included with the rent and they were responsible for keeping the snow shoveled on the front walk and keeping animals out of the garbage and taking care of the foliage and flowers in the spring and raking up leaves in fall…

They would also need furniture.

Robin and Mrs. Daly wandered into the backyard. Billy and Steve were left on their own in the too empty living room with its green shag carpeting and wood-paneled walls. The place was a little less fairytale-like on the inside, but it was still pretty damn nice, by Billy’s standards.

Billy crossed his arms. “I don’t have stuff,” he said.

Steve blinked at him, confused. “Stuff?”

“I don’t have a couch or...dishes or whatever. I don’t have pots and pans or forks. I mean Susan said she could help me a little, but-”

“Don’t worry about that shit,” Steve said with a wave of his hand. “My parents said they’d help me out with furnishing junk if I decided to move out on my own. I think they’re pretty psyched about it, to tell you the truth. Or anyway, my mom is super psyched about living in Pittsburgh rather than Hawkins.”

“Hmm.” Billy nodded, but all at once the optimism that had sprung up over the last hour dissipated. He heaved a sigh and turned on his heel to face Steve, crossing his arms. “Listen. Harrington. There’s no way in hell you’re really gonna say yes. So whatever. You should take the place anyway and keep looking for a roommate. I’m sure somebody’ll crop up. But I won’t fight you for it. Is what I’m saying. Anyway, I’d never afford it on my own.”

Steve rubbed his bottom lip between his fingers, regarding Billy. Billy, not for the first time, wondered what it would be like to suck on that bottom lip. 

“Max says she’d miss you,” Steve said quietly. 

Billy ducked his head, shoving his hands in his pockets. “Yeah, well… I can’t live there. Be easier if I could.”

“That’s not what I mean,” Steve said. “I just mean… Max is picky. And I know shit wasn’t always easy between you guys. So if she’d miss you, you can’t be that bad, right? So let’s do it. Are you in?”

The shock of it took him by surprise, but he nodded jerkily. “Yeah. Hell yeah, Harrington. I’m in.”

* * *

“I bought you a plant!” Robin was holding a small potted spider plant and grinning from ear to ear.

Steve glared at her and gritted his teeth.

He was holding up one end of a couch. “”Great. Um...gghhh!”

“Harrington!” Billy said from the other end of the couch. “Heave ho!”

“Yeah yeah…” 

Steve grunted and the two of them made their way down the icy walk. “Don’t slip!” Steve said.

Billy had a tendency to slip on ice, he’d discovered. The first time it was funny. The third time it started getting sad.

The couch jerked, almost slipping from his hands. Billy was slipping again. The guy needed winter boots badly.

“Robin, help him out!”

Eventually, they made it up the porch steps and into the house with the couch. The sofa was a plush blue and grey striped thing Steve’s mother had helped him pick out and then paid for. Steve’s first choice was black leather, but that was vetoed. Still, the final choice was not so bad. At least it wasn’t too girly and it was definitely comfortable. It looked like an  _ adult _ couch.

Once they’d set the couch inside, facing the blank wall where the TV would go, Billy immediately plopped down to test it out. “Huh. Comfy. Good going, Harrington.” He nodded up at Steve who dusted off his hands and shivered from the sharp cold he’d brought in with him. 

“Sure,” he said, and smiled tightly. He watched Robin sit down next to Billy and show him the spider plant she’d brought them as a housewarming gift.

“It’s one of my mom’s plant’s babies,” Robin said. “I named him Theodore.”

“Oh.” Billy nodded. “Okay..”

It was strange how much this moving in with Billy thing didn’t feel very strange.

He kept waiting for it to get weird and supposed that would happen sometime during the first week of actually living together. After that...he’d just have to deal, he supposed.

But they’d  _ discussed _ things already like sharing chores and splitting utilities. They’d gone to lunch at the diner and Billy had paid for his burger. He’d even smiled at Doris.

He was pleasant.

It was bizarre.

Steve kept looking for the guy who had once beaten the shit out of him and couldn’t find him anywhere.

“Theodore…” Billy took the spider plant from Robin and Steve watched a fond little smile spread on his face that he’d definitely never seen coming from Billy Hargrove before. “Cool. Thanks, Buckley.”

* * *

Steve kept waiting for the other shoe to drop. He thought about it while shelving and rewinding and checking videos in and out. Billy would get weird or angry or start fucking with him and then Steve would have a horrible roommate.

But two weeks passed and it never happened.

For the most part, they kept out of each other’s way. 

They both had work and schedules that didn’t always overlap. They didn’t bump into each other getting ready in the morning and Billy was surprisingly neat (much neater than Steve, it turned out) so he didn’t have to bother Billy about picking up his dirty laundry or scrubbing out dirty dishes. If anything, he expended a lot of energy making sure Billy wouldn’t have any complaints.

Things started to feel comfortable.

“You can cook?” Steve said one night.

Keith had switched up Steve’s schedule due to a new hire with a second part-time job. He found himself at home one evening. Billy was cooking. 

“Sure,” Billy said, shrugging. “Basic shit anyway.”

“Huh.”    
Steve watched him dice and saute, humming as he worked, a dish towel over one shoulder.

It was snowing so hard, Steve suspected the town would just about shut down the next day. There was a chance they’d both be stuck at home.

But for now, the evening felt cozy.

“What are you making anyway?” Steve said. He leaned on the counter and watched Billy wipe down the countertop, wondering where and how he’d learned to cook. It was difficult to imagine.

“It’s like a cheap version of chicken cacciatore,” he said, shrugging. “Really easy.” 

“Oh.” Steve nodded. “Thanks.”

“I mean it’s easier to cook for two than one,” Billy said. He wouldn’t quite look at Steve, his gaze roving around. He shivered slightly and Steve frowned.

“You know, you  _ can _ crank the heat up,” Steve said. “Robin said you like it really warm because...you know. I’m pretty easy either way, so don’t worry about it.”

“It’s no big deal,” Billy said. “Doc Owens says it’s like...psychological. Or whatever.”

Steve cast him a disbelieving look and strode across the kitchen to the thermostat next to the service porch. He clicked it up to eighty degrees. “It’s fine, Billy,” Steve said. 

“That’s weird,” Billy murmured.

“Huh?”

Billy glared down into his big sizzling pan of chicken and vegetables and said, “I don’t think I’ve heard you say my name since I got back. Just weird.” 

And then he blushed so obviously and so prettily that Steve stood, suddenly breathless and unable to move. 

And all at once, everything changed.

***

Steve had flirted with insomnia before. Or rather, insomnia had flirted with him. It had started with his first round of monster fighting back when he was dating Nancy. Sometime after he’d fought with the kids to help close the gate, it had increased exponentially. 

Steve had quickly discovered that there was nothing lonelier than insomnia. He’d spend countless nights in his parent’s den watching the weird shit that played on cable at four in the morning, wishing for the dawn and feeling like the only boy in the world.

So when he found himself tossing and turning for the first time at the cottage, he sighed heavily and rolled out of bed, rubbing his bleary eyes and hoping this stretch of sleeplessness didn’t last too long. 

It was two in the morning when Billy appeared.

Steve was sprawled on the couch, miserably watching Elvira comment on  _ Beast of the Dead _ because insomnia usually meant Elvira reruns or  _ I Dream of Jeannie _ or  _ Bonanza _ .

“Hey.” Billy blinked at him. He was wearing blue sweatpants and nothing else, his curly hair a tousled mess. “Didn’t know you were up.”

Steve shrugged, embarrassed. “Can’t sleep sometimes. Nothing for it. You?”

“Oh… No, I just woke up hungry.” He padded past Steve, who couldn’t help but sneak a glance at the impressive scarring along Billy’s chest and arms. Steve had first glimpsed it when Billy came out from the shower in a towel and he’d found himself annoyingly aroused (a thought he’d labored to ignore). 

The scars were beautiful, he decided. Not least because they decorated Billy’s body specifically.

“I’m making a sandwich,” Billy said. His voice was raspy and low. “You want something?”

Steve sat very still, but his eyes followed Billy’s body and his gaze roved over the lines of his back and the way his pajama pants clung to his ass.

“I’m good,” Steve said. He frowned and returned his gaze to the television. He couldn’t quite follow the plot but some human heads were attached to machines and Elvira made fun of them before the commercial breaks.

He wasn’t prepared for Billy to sit next to him on the couch to eat, but he was grateful for it. 

“Sometimes I can’t sleep either,” Billy said. “But I usually just lie in bed flipping out.” He chuckled when he said it and the warmth of it made Steve forget his loneliness.

“Huh. Insomnia club,” Steve said. 

The couch wasn’t very big. Billy’s bare shoulder pressed against his and he was all too aware of it.

“Right,” Billy said. “Sucks. S’like you’re the only person in the universe or some shit.”

“Yeah. Exactly.”

Steve was pretty sure Billy wasn’t having trouble sleeping himself that night. But he remained there on the couch with Steve even after he finished his sandwich, and finally nodded off, slumping against his shoulder.

His mouth looked impossibly soft when he slept, and Steve found himself paying more attention to that than to Elvira’s boobs.

* * *

The snow was brutal on a Wednesday in January as Robin’s VW puttered down Mulberry.

School was back in session, following the winter break. Robin had five months of high school to go and the days did not pass quickly enough for her liking. But her senior year academic load was light at least. That meant she could enjoy her evenings at Family Video during the week and not have to worry too much about homework and band and yearbook.

New Years Eve had been fun, if reasonably mellow. There was a party at Shelley Stabenow’s house, but Robin opted to celebrate with Steve and Billy at their place, watching shitty movies, smoking up, and laughing about nothing. 

At midnight, Steve pecked her on the lips with a wet and comically noisy smack, and then Billy pecked her on the cheek. Then Billy and Steve had glanced at each other and for a thrilling moment, she’d wondered if  _ they _ were going to kiss.

She’d found herself hunting for clues to something more between them ever since, hinting around it when she talked to either of them, careful not to scare either away.

So far: nothing.

Robin parked behind the video store and grumbled as she trudged through ankle-deep dirty snow to the backdoor and let herself in. In the break room, she stuffed her book bag in her locker and hung her coat on the rack. In the mirror beneath the clock on the wall, she refreshed her lipstick and fixed her hair before pulling on her Family Video vest.

She hummed tunelessly to herself as she walked out on the floor...where she found Steve Harrington looking like he was about to have a heart attack.

“Robin!” Steve was behind the counter, but he spun around and vaulted over it. He almost knocked her over, but she jumped back just in time. “I have to talk to you!”

“Sure, but first maybe calm down, dingus.” Robin raised her hands slowly as if attempting to relax a wild animal. “Are you okay?” She glanced around the store, but the evening rush of customers all getting off work and heading to the video store had not begun yet and the place was empty.

“No!” Steve barked. His hair was wilder than usual as if he’d been messing with it. He gripped it between his fingers as he stood in front of Robin, his eyes bugged out. “I mean yes, I’m not in trouble or anything. But… Jesus, you’re gonna be pissed at me on top of everything else.” All at once, he slumped against the counter in the middle of the store, sinking his head in his hands.

“Steve, you are freaking me out.” Robin approached tentatively, resting her hand on his shoulder. “What’s the matter? Why would I be mad?”

“Because I…” He glanced at her, his eyes watery, and just as quickly looked away. “Why is this so hard to say? How did you say it?”   
“Say what?” Robin whispered.

“I...like… I... _ fuck _ .”

“You want to try charades?” Robin said dryly.

He glared at her and sniffed and she felt a stab of sympathy. 

“I’m sorry,” she said. “You want to give me a clue or something? I won’t be mad.”

“Can’t promise that,” he muttered.

“Steve!”

“I like Billy!” Steve blurted, and flushed so deeply Robin thought he might be choking. “I mean like... _ like _ . A lot. And I dunno what the hell to do, okay?” 

“Wait…” Robin’s mouth dropped open. She stared at Steve, waiting for a punchline. And, knowing what she already knew about Billy over the course of whispered conversations, a slow smile spread across her face. “You  _ like _ him?” She spoke quietly, as if someone might hear although the store was empty.

“I…” Steve nodded and a tear slid down his cheek. He sniffed, rolling his eyes as he wiped it away. “Yeah.”

“Hey, whoa.” Robin wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “It’s okay, dingus. So you like boys, you’ll survive. But why’d you think I’d be mad?” 

She broke away again and he sighed. “ _ Because _ , because you told me about you and if I’m honest, this isn’t an entirely shocking revelation that I could be into a guy. Figured you’d be pissed I let you think you’re the only one.”

“Oh!” She swatted his shoulder. “No no no. Of course, not. It’s hard to do. Everyone has their own time. I mean...I’m guessing. That sounds right anyway. I don’t blame you. I’d never be mad about that. So you swing both ways, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“Nice.” She winked at him and he blushed. 

“I guess. But this Billy thing...” He glanced behind him, but even the parking lot outside was barren, an expanse of smooth white snow just fallen. Steve hopped up on the counter and kicked it with his Nikes, a bad habit Keith had failed to break him of.

“Tell me  _ everything _ ,” Robin said. “Hold on!” She dashed past him to the front doors and flipped the Open sign around to Closed, but did not bother to lock the doors. In a flash she was back, at Steve’s side, leaning on the counter and looking up at him with great anticipation. “Now tell me everything.”

“So we’ve been hanging out a lot” Steve was wearing jeans and a thick cable-knit sweater under his uniform vest. He scratched his denim-clad thighs, staring down at the floor. “And it’s been really great, you know? I kept waiting for him to flip out or be like...well, like the old Billy, I guess. But he’s really cool. It almost feels like we’ve always been friends except it’s totally not like  _ us _ …” He gestured between him and Robin. “Like there’s always been this tension since before, back in high school even. Even though he’s different, like it’s still there. I always thought it was because, ya know, he was him. Stupid high school bullshit. But it’s still there and it feels… It... “

“What?” Robin whispered.

“He’s just really hot all, right!” Steve exploded, clapped his hands to his forehead. “Like oh my  _ God _ . And he’s funny and I dunno… We talk. And stuff.”

Robin giggled at that. “Wow, dingus.”

“I  _ know _ !”

“Okay, but it sounds like you thought he was hot all along-”

“Everyone thinks he’s hot, Robin!” Steve said. “Except you probably.”

“The only guy I really think is hot is you and that’s pure loyalty,” Robin said loftily. “Although there are many I find objectively beautiful nonsexually. So what changed though?”

“I mean we became friends,” he said. “And also, my insomnia kicked up again a few weeks ago-”

“Oh no!” Robin punched his shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it wasn’t…” He couldn’t contain the smile that snuck up on his face. “It wasn’t so bad because Billy started staying up with me. Like the first night it was because he happened to wake up in the middle of the night hungry. But after that he wouldn’t go to bed until I did and if I  _ didn’t, _ he’d stay up with me. Even when I could tell he was tired. And he’d...he’d fall asleep on my shoulder.”

Robin watched Steve’s expression soften further right before her eyes. He looked dazed and giddy. “You are in love with him.”

“Ah! I dunno…”

“That’s what it looks like to me,” Robin said. “And it’s your lucky day, sunshine. Because Billy Hargrove is  _ very _ very into you.”

Steve sat up with a start. “What are you talking about,” he said flatly.

“I swore I’d never tell a soul and I didn’t think there’d be any reason to, but I’m taking the chance,” Robin said. “Billy told me he’s gay like the day after you guys moved into together. And I told him about me. It was nice. We bonded. And he’s always had a massive crush on you, Steve. Green light.”

“You’re not messing with me,” Steve said.

“I wouldn’t do that!”

“I know.” Steve nodded and all at once, he burst out laughing. “Holy shit. Holy  _ shit _ ! I have to go tell him!” 

He ran for the doors and Robin snorted and darted after him, grabbing him by his sleeve. “Hey! Dingus, you can’t just ditch work! Besides, it’s Tuesday. Doesn’t he usually come by on Tuesdays after he gets off at the library to have dinner with you on his way home? That’s like an hour away.”

“Sometimes,” Steve said.

“You’re both idiots not to realize you’re into each other,” Robin said. “Who even does that? Coming over here to eat with you? That is such a boyfriend thing.”

“How am I supposed to wait!” Steve spun around and slumped over the counter and Robin patted his shoulder on her way to the front doors to flip the sign back over. “It’s one hour, Steven. Try to maintain.”

Steve just barely made it.

By the time Billy came up to the front doors in his thick parka, with a fuzzy white scarf wrapped around his neck and a red snow hat (courtesy of Robin) smashing his curls, Steve had reshelved all the sci-fi, disinfected all the countertops, vacuumed, and helped fifteen customers find the almost perfect movie for the night since most of the popular weekend rentals were not yet returned.

“Steve!” Robin hissed at Steve who darted out from behind Action, his eyes widening when he saw Billy walk in.

Billy looked more relaxed than usual, which made Steve’s heightened energy all the more amusing. He nodded at Robin, unzipping his parka. “Hey. Steve around?”

“Yeah-”

“Billy!” Steve marched out from behind the Action section and headed straight for Billy whose relaxed demeanor shifted into mild alarm at Steve’s determined air. The only customer in the shop was Doris, the diner waitress. 

Something about that seemed appropriate to Robin.

“Harrington? What’s the matter?” Billy said.

“Nothing,” Steve said, and he grabbed Billy by his parka and yanked him forward, planting a firm kiss on his pink lips.

Robin shrieked and clapped her hands to her mouth.

“Hmm. Thought so.” That was Doris, who snickered from somewhere near the Romance section.

Robin had tears in her eyes. There was something so sweet about the whole thing as Billy’s arms slowly came up to hold Steve, their kiss deepening until he finally pulled away with a gentle smack of their lips. 

“Hi,” Steve murmured.

“Hey,” Billy said. “Uh...hey. Harrington.”

“Just wanted to say thanks for helping me with my insomnia?” Steve said. He sounded breathless, as if he’d been running for miles and miles and had only just begun to rest. “Thought I could...thank you some more?” He licked his lips. “At dinner?”

“Long as you’re not cooking, I’m in,” Billy said. He winked at Steve and Robin stuck her pinkies in her mouth and whistled. 

Billy flipped her the bird on his way out, his cheeks rosy with embarrassment. 

But he was grinning from ear to ear.


End file.
